


Against All Odds

by judelaw



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fantastic Racism, Hero Worship, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Propaganda, Yonvers - Freeform, based on a quote by Jude Law about the relationship between Yon-Rogg and the Supreme Intelligence, but his relationship with and feelings for Vers/Carol are a huge part of his character development, love at first sight in a way, way more of a character study than a love story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:04:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/judelaw/pseuds/judelaw
Summary: Against all odds Yon-Rogg had achieved everything he wanted in his life and even more than that. He was the leader of the Starforce, the poster boy of the Empire, a hero among the common Kree and the favorite of the Supreme Intelligence. He kept working hard to protect his people and his team. The more power he got, the bigger his responsibilities became, the more lives depended on him – and he was ready to carry that burden. For the good of all Kree.The once poor Kree boy at the bottom of lower Hala was now at the very top of the Starforce. The ridiculed child who dreamed too big for his own good was now the hero of their entire nation.His life was in control, he was in control.And then he met Vers.





	Against All Odds

He always wondered if he was the only one who never saw anything.

All his life has he been told that the Supreme Intelligence will take the form of the person you admire the most, the one you look to, look for guidance in. It was frowned upon to talk about it, to ask or tell any Kree about the shape. It was private. And so Yon-Rogg never asked.

But he still kept wondering.

It made sense, however, the absence of a physical manifestation to talk to as the Supremor themselves were the one he idolized – and they simply had no form, nothing they could turn into.

Sometimes in a weak moment he caught himself thinking about if the Supreme Intelligence took some kind of pride in that, if they actually cared about who their subordinates see. And if they loved him for not seeing anyone.

Love was a strong word, too strong perhaps, but it was the best he could think off. And maybe it was even a wish, a quite hope that the Supremor did in fact just that. Love him.

After all there was no one else who could do so.

Yon-Rogg was special, had always been told he was special – no, not always, not before his time in the simulation. He was looked down upon, just another pink-skinned Kree who didn’t amount to much. A child living at the bottom of lower Hala, just one upon many – some would say even too many. He had dreams of course but just like with the stars above the upper levels he thought he could never reach them. Officially there was no racism; Kree of all colors had the same rights, no matter their background or reason for their anomaly. But all of that was just theory, something everyone pretended to exist. In reality he never had a chance.

He had always admired the warriors, the protectors of their world. Yon-Rogg would look up to them whenever he could, up to the huge posters present everywhere that would praise their abilities, their service. Posters next to the darker ones that warned everyone, reminded all Kree of the threat that subconsciously was always with them. There was nothing in the universe he wanted more than to be a protector, to save their people from the Skrulls. He talked about joining the military once he was old enough and even about being a part of the Starforce, the elite and pride of the Empire, one day.

And he got always dismissed or even ridiculed, not only by the blue-skinned but by his own people as well. Yes, sometimes a Kree of a lower skin color would climb the ranks but never far, and none of them had ever become a part of the Starforce. Yon-Rogg wanted to be the first, wanted to prove to everyone he was just as capable of being a Noble Warrior Hero, so he went to the gym every day, to train, to fight, to always reach his limits or go beyond them. He forgot what it felt like to go to bed without every inch of his body hurting but he never regretted his choice.

Some Kree in the gym, who watched him struggle every day, had told him he could work as hard as he wanted but still would never get far as it wasn’t his abilities that mattered but his status, his skin and his family. Yon-Rogg never understood why, how any of this could guarantee a great warrior or dismiss any chances to become one. It was unfair. But it only made him train harder.

Not one person believed in him, not even a single Kree at least wished him good luck. Even his own family was ashamed of his aspirations. At first delighted by their son’s enthusiasm to join the military as it was the most honorable thing any Kree could do, their excitement quickly faded when he would talk about archiving more, to become more than a simple soldier.

It wasn’t about power, it was about justice. Yon-Rogg would have happily supported any fellow Kree who didn’t have blue skin yet had the same goal as he did – but there simply were none. Or if there were they never were brave enough to talk about it let alone act on it.

He was alone.

Until the Supreme Intelligence found him.

Yon-Rogg never knew how and he was too afraid to ask. He wasn’t even sure what he was afraid of, if it simply was the possibility of the Supremor telling him it was just a coincidence, that it could have been anyone. That he wasn’t special in the end. But it didn’t matter, did it? He was here now anyway.

Fate wasn’t something Kree necessarily believed in, their faith system was based on technology, on the Supremor. Yet he had found himself wondering time and time again if fate was something they created, if it led to him, if the fate of all Kree was already decided upon by the Supreme Intelligence.

Power never interested him but it fascinated him.

It had frightened him at first, when his parents gave him away once their leader asked for him. It was devotion and loyalty that had made them give up on him without any hesitation, he knew that, but he also was aware that they probably were relieved; the heavy burden of their defiant son was finally lifted from them. It might have been the first and only time he ever made them proud.

The Supremor demanding a child had never happened before, at least not in recent history that anyone would remember. Never before had he been special – only his eyes were. Golden and bright eyes that were looking for the stars. Eyes no other Kree had ever possessed. However they weren’t the point of interest for the Supremor.

Yon-Rogg had been thrilled yet terrified of meeting the Supreme Intelligence. He had been too young before, children had to reach a certain age before they were allowed to consult the Intelligence; it was a sign of their maturity, of their first step into adulthood.

He was still too young then by the rules but of course the laws of their society didn’t apply to the deity themselves. Insecure at first as he couldn’t see anyone, standing alone in the overwhelming emptiness, a voiced reached out to him, calming him. Yon-Rogg didn’t dare to ask why there was no one standing in front of him but the Supremor could read his thoughts and reassured him he simply was too young, that this was one of the reasons the children weren’t allowed to talk to them.

Yet as Yon-Rogg grew older and had well passed the line to adulthood he still was talking to no one.

Unlike back then however he now even found some kind of comfort in it, it was familiar, his home in a way. Years and years he had spent in the simulation, only leaving it for the bare necessities such as food and sleep – and he cursed at himself for needing anything physical. It was a weakness almost, something the Intelligence surely didn’t appreciate. But it was beyond his control.

Control was the greatest lesson the Supremor had taught him.

When he had entered this realm for the first time he had been afraid, confused as to why he was taken from his family, sent all the way to the highest point of upper Hala. Thinking he surely must have done something wrong, that his eagerness had insulted the Supremor somehow, he apologized, promising to better himself. He couldn’t imagine the forms of punishment they could were able to perform, and that was the scariest part. Yon-Rogg was used to physical and verbal punishment; he was used to getting beaten and insulted. It must have been like in his dreams he thought, the simulation a dimension that only existed in his head yet felt so real. The world could be a scary place, he had seen it, but his fantasy could come up with even greater terrors that he would meet in his sleep. And his imagination had limits; it couldn’t invent colors or forms that didn’t exist, that he hadn’t seen. The Supreme Intelligence however wasn’t bound to such limitations. And it terrified him.

But much to his surprise the Supremor was praising him, telling him they had seen his efforts, even that they were impressed by him. They never told him specifically what was so special about him and Yon-Rogg didn’t ask. He just clung to the thought of being worth something.

His training had begun then and there and it was nothing compared to his times at the gym. Had he thought back then his training was exhausting he now began to understand the true meaning of the word. He wasn’t tiring his body in any way – this was something to save up for the evenings, when he was back at his apartment and would work out as long as he could. No, he was tiring his mind.

They taught him everything, from the history of the Kree to the modern battle tactics they were using against Xandarians and the Skrulls. They told him how the great war had started, how the Skrulls attacked the innocent, how they simmed the ones you love and trust only to turn on you. They were monsters, ruthless killers and Yon-Rogg would do anything within his powers to protect the Kree and other befriended nations from their terrorism.

Against all odds, despite everything and everyone that was against him, he had succeeded in the end. Yon-Rogg grew up to become a warrior, the warrior. Despite his personal training, the Supreme Intelligence still insisted he would go through the education of the academy, climb the ranks as everyone else had to and he was eager not to disappoint. Like at the bottom of Hala even here at the top he was belittled, no one saw him as the Kree he was. Yet it was him who would win every fight, no matter how strong his opponent. Sheer strength never got him far, but his mind did. Always could he find the weakness of his enemy and use it against him. Not only came he out on top of every fight but on top of his class as well.

When he was a child he imagined he would turn society, prove to everyone you didn’t need to have blue skin to be a true Kree but as he grew older he realized he never could achieve that goal. He was respected now; fellow students and even teachers saw him for who he was truly meant to be. A noble warrior hero. But they only saw him, the apparent exception to the rule. With age came the realization that all he could do was being an inspiration to other Kree like him and it made him fight even more, hoping his victories would reach the lighter skinned children.

Yon-Rogg had feared the Supremor would go easy on him, would promote him without him having to meet all the requirements but instead he would have to work even harder. And he was grateful for it. The Supreme Intelligence was the first and only one to ever believe in him, to see more in him than a worthless pink-skinned. And he would do anything within his power to not let that trust go to waste.

Passing the tests was never a problem for him, he was a born leader and warrior shaped by the Intelligence. But what was still troubling him was the greatest and most important lesson: Control.

_There's nothing more dangerous for a warrior than emotion. Humor is a distraction. And anger only serves the enemy._

Over and over again this mantra would get repeated in his head, first by the Supremor than by himself. And he believed it. He really did. Yon-Rogg wanted to be a warrior and warriors couldn’t show any emotions. Never.

Yet he had lost control again and again. He got angry, even upset, over the loss of a soldier under his command. His reason told him casualties were unavoidable, no matter how hard he fought but he still hated it – though he knew he shouldn’t.

The Supreme Intelligence expressed their resentment with him every time and he knew he deserved it as he had failed them. Failed their education, their trust and even respect.

But as he climbed the ranks and the time went by, his emotions would become easier to control even when he would never be able to completely master them. However the progress was there and there was nothing in the universe that could make him give up now. He had reached the stars, seen the universe. Against all the odds he was here – and he would let nothing take this away from him.

The day the Supremor had called to announce him as the new leader of the Starforce, he had almost slipped, let his emotions get the better of him, but he somehow managed to stay calm, to thank them for the trust and opportunity.

Even when he walked through the streets for the next years, seeing the poster he once admired now show his own face, even when the common people of all skin colors would approach him and celebrate him as their hero, thank him for his service, he was still in control.

Against all odds Yon-Rogg had achieved everything he wanted in his life and even more than that. He was the leader of the Starforce, the poster boy of the Empire, a hero among the common Kree and the favorite of the Supreme Intelligence. He kept working hard to protect his people and his team. The more power he got, the bigger his responsibilities became, the more lives depended on him – and he was ready to carry that burden. For the good of all Kree.

Yon-Rogg knew the Supreme Intelligence was responsible for all of this, he knew he had to serve them his entire life, loyal and devoted. And he was ready to die for them.

His family had failed him, the system had failed him – but he won’t fail the Supremor.

The once poor Kree boy at the bottom of lower Hala was now at the very top of the Starforce. The ridiculed child who dreamed too big for his own good was now the hero of their entire nation.

His life was in control, he was in control.

And then he met Vers.

Perhaps fate existed after all.

Nothing about their mission to C-53 had indicated the impact it would have on his life. It was simple, stopping the traitor Mar-Vell, even if it would result in her death. Yon-Rogg usually avoided killing anyone, especially a fellow Kree or innocent civilians of the planet they were fighting on. His resistance, the several warning he’d give anyone who wasn’t a Skrull was never something the Supremor had taught him and even though they never punished him for it, he was aware it was a behavior he wasn’t supposed to show. But to him they were noble warrior heroes and as such he wanted to protect lives – not take them.

They had caught the traitor just in time before she got the chance to leave the planet. Everything was going well, he had stopped Mar-Vell, had no choice but to kill her. He only needed to get the energy core they were after and return to Hala. It seemed so easy. A normal, harmless mission.

But the Terran who accompanied her, and whose existence he had decided to ignore, stood up to him. She left him no choice but to kill her as well as she was an unavoidable obstacle on his way to receive his goal. Terrans were a backward race, the Kree well more advanced than them and there was probably nothing they could do to stop them. But she stood her ground. Yon-Rogg could tell how afraid she was, making him wonder if control isn’t something Terra teaches their warriors.

The Kree were a proud race, others might describe them as arrogant but they had a long, proud history and usually everyone who wasn’t a Kree was considered to be below them. Everyone had told him all his life that no one was good enough for a Kree than another Kree, that they only had to respect each other. But they had never respected him or others of the same skin color although they were Kree as well.

Yon-Rogg looked at the terrified Terran, wondering if she also had to fight against so many odds in her life as he did, they shared the skin color after all. And for a moment he felt like he was looking into a mirror. He saw himself, afraid yet still fighting. She was emotional, just like he had been, as he still was. And then she shot the drive.

She was just a Terran, an emotional one even, yet she had in an act of selflessness and bravery sacrificed her own life in order to fight for what she believed to be right. Just like every noble warrior hero would.

All his life he had been told to always be in control, that he could never be a hero without it.

Yet here she was.

He took her with them to Hala, knowing her Terran body would never survive without their medical advancements. Yon-Rogg hadn’t expected even their technology to reach their limits with her but when they started to suggest a blood transfusion to save her life, he immediately volunteered. Donating such a huge amount was dangerous, even life threatening, but he didn’t care. He wanted to speak with her at least once, see this courage in her eyes again. Never had he seen everyone in the simulation of the Supreme Intelligence but he imagined this was how it felt like.

He knew he shouldn’t have such feelings so he welcomed the excuse of saving her to keep Mar-Vell’s invention. They didn’t need her body for this, could easily transfer the energy elsewhere, but he had insisted on the blood transfusion.

Of course the Supremor wasn’t happy with his decision but for the first time that didn’t bother him. He promised to train Vers like they had trained him, to make her the perfect warrior – but in his mind she already was just that.

All the walls he had built up upon the years, that were unshaken by the joy of fame and popularity, that steadily stood against all threats, all terrors, started to crumble under her sheer existence. She made him laugh, broke his will within seconds. She proved to him you could be strong and emotional.

But most importantly: she cared about him.

Vers didn’t see his skin color, she didn’t see his military rank, and she didn’t care about his status of a hero, all she saw was the Kree boy with golden eyes.

Yon-Rogg had excepted the be in control again one day, that he would be his former self once more over the years, but his walls only kept falling down and letting her in. And one day he entered the simulation, awaiting the nothingness he was so familiar with and felt so comfortable in, and there she stood right in front of him.

He smile was different, it wasn’t the warmth he was used to, instead a chagrin lay on her lips and it made Yon-Rogg wonder if in the end the Supreme Intelligence really did care about who he sees.

 _“You have disappointed me, Yon-Rogg,”_ they said in a voice he had never heard in this room, in his home. It had hurt, even more than any punishment they had ever inflicted on him, but the true pain only follow years later.

They grew close, Yon-Rogg and her, and he started to forget what life without her was like. She’d wake him up in the middle of the night, seeking his comfort or simply a sparring partner. He couldn’t remember what his night before had been like yet he never regret his decision of saving her that day. Of offering his friendship. Vers made him change his ways, never before he had cared about trivial activities such as going out for fun but she only had to ask and he would follow her anywhere.

She made him feel like he had never felt before, like he was worth something not because of his achievements but because of who he was, yet also like he wasn’t worth anything at all.

He had returned the Supreme Intelligence’s love with his labor, his loyalty and devotion. But there was nothing he could do, nothing he could say that was worth Vers’ love. Not as long as he was lying to her. Yon-Rogg watched her confusion, her sadness, her fear and he was there for her, calming her, listening to her. He would have been able to stop her misery at once but he didn’t.

The Supremor had forbidden anyone who was aware of her origin to ever mention it yet he would be lying if he said he wasn’t close to telling her anyway. But he had disappointed his leader, the only one who ever believed in him, before Vers had come into his life, more than enough.

Yon-Rogg told himself the order was the reason he could never tell her the truth. But it wasn’t.

Telling Vers where she came from, how they met would make him lose her. And lose the Intelligence as well. He’d be alone, without his nation, without the Supremor, without Vers. And there was nothing he was more terrified of.

It was this egoism that made him believe he had gotten what he deserved in the end.

Despite his best efforts, despite all of his hard work, he had lost her. Vers had turned on the Kree, on the six years they had spent together to join the Skrulls. And while perhaps the former didn’t deserve her betrayal, he for sure did.

Maybe in the end this had been his true fate. Maybe he shouldn’t have dreamt. Maybe he was never meant to be more than the boy living at the bottom of lower Hala.

He never saw the empty room again that he became so used to growing up, he’d only see her, the woman that had ruined his life. And that he loved more than anything.

Perhaps he had been wrong; perhaps the Supreme Intelligence had been right all along.

Emotions were dangerous; they had made him lose control, made him lose everything. Once the leader of the Starforce, poster boy of the Kree Empire, hero of the common people and favorite of the Supremor, the mentor of Vers, the best friend of Vers, he was now nothing. Just like he had been before.

When he was a child he thought he had already been at the lowest point, that he could only climb up, but he had been wrong. So wrong.

Yon-Rogg was alone.

As a boy he considered his fate to be unfair, this finality defined by the color of his skin, by the status of his family. And perhaps it had been. But now his actions had led to his demise, to his ultimate fate. It was what he deserved.

And oddly enough he was free for the first time in his life.

He had no obligations, no goal, no dreams, no drive, and no pressure. And it was liberating. Yon-Rogg had always imagined dying on the battlefield, protecting his people to the end. To die in peace for nothing and no one at all felt like a shame but it was out of his control.

Sometimes he heard stories about Vers’ adventures, about her acts of heroism. Even here at the other end of the universe, well out of the Empire, they still reached him. He was proud of her. Unlike him she truly was made for a greater purpose, to reach for the stars. Somehow he had always known she was, even when they had just met. Back then he thought he was looking into a mirror but instead he was looking at the posters he had always looked up to.

And just like he had never been with the posters, he also wasn’t jealous of her. She deserved everything in her life – everything good at least, certainly not him.

For a moment he thought he was back in the simulation when he had faced Vers for the first time, faced anyone for the first time but now she was standing in front of him for real. He didn’t know how he she had found him, just as he never got to know of the Supremor had found him and he didn’t ask for the same reasons as back then. Yon-Rogg felt like that boy again, facing an uncertain future, thinking he is about to die for having angered the ones he looked up to.

But Vers wasn’t the Supreme Intelligence. She wasn’t looking for a pawn, a soldier she could shape into whatever form she desired.

She was looking for her friend.

He had been undeserving of the special treatment the Supremor had graced him with and he was even more underserving of the forgiveness Vers showed him. But he had worked hard to make it up to the Supremor and he would work even harder to never give her a reason to regret her decision. He had disappointed them but he would never disappoint her. Not again.

It didn’t matter anymore but he still caught himself wondering if the Intelligence ever cared, if they were angry with his choice. He couldn’t ask but somehow the thought of the Supreme Intelligence’s disappointment was reassuring and almost filled him with some kind of pride.

Against all the odds he had climbed the military ranks, against all the odds he had fallen in love.

Neither ever really was under his control.

And now he was fine with that.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm happy we are getting the deleted scene in which Yon-Rogg talks to the Supreme Intelligence (who questions his leadership abilities) with the DVD/Blu-Ray extras and coincidentally stumbled upon an older quote by Jude that's in relation to said moment and it somehow planted this idea into my head. I'm curious (but also scared) to see in a few weeks what their relationship and this scene are actually about.
> 
> “It’s interesting, he has a very particular relationship–and any of you who know alot about the Kree, there’s sort of a divine element called the Supreme Intelligence–and that comes it play in this. Each of the Starforce, indeed each of the Kree warriors, has a particular relationship with the Supreme Intelligence, and my character has a very particular relationship with the Supreme Intelligence which becomes revealed and is quite complex and ultimately very revealing of what it is that motivates him. I’ve kind of based him almost on… not a religious fanatic but he’s got a sort of Divine sense of purpose because of his relationship with this greater being.” (https://screenrant.com/captain-marvel-jude-law-interview-set-visit/)


End file.
